Disclaimer: I don't own any of the commercialized shows, or products used in this chapter. :-)

Just Catch Me

Chapter Four

And Let Me Be Your Cinderella

Syeira hauled her basket onto the table and began unloading her clothes. T'was seven in the freaking morning and she was already awake and standing in an almost isolated Laundromat washing her shirts. Albeit the washing machine at home, she had been sent to the local 'open 24-hour a day' laundry service to learn some responsibilities.

Rolling in a quarter in the coin slot, she pulled open the lid for her bottle of tide and poured it in the machine.

"Don't mix your lights with your darks."

Syeira smiled weakly with whatever enthusiasm she had left to her seventy two year old neighbor who had accompanied her to the place.

"Well, young lady, I'm going to go and fetch a few chocolates for my granddaughter from the dollar store, and then I'm going back home. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Syeira stared at her blankly. What was even possible in a Laundromat? Oh, wait. She knew. She was going to leave the washer lids open. Muahaha. Evil, Syeira, evil. She stopped her trail of thoughts. Oh god. What had her life come to?

Grumbling to herself, she turned back around to continue to unload her clothes in the machine and heard the jingle of the door, signaling that she had been left in solitude.

"Well, Mr. Banana, are you up for another go in the swirling hole?" she glanced at her yellow shirt before tossing the infamous shirt with the logo 'I like banana's' into the washer. As she came across her gym shorts, she rolled her eyes at the memory of last night's conversation with Jason.

Oh god, she was already dreading today. The ever so familiar annoyance crept into her again and she refused to look at her gym shirt as she tossed it in after her shorts. How had the idiot managed to see her in gym? For all she knew, from where he was sitting, he could've seen her when she subtly scratched her ass.

Oh god, she prayed. She hoped he hadn't seen that

The little trinkets on the bells bumped against each other slightly before chiming as the door was swung completely open. Hearing footsteps, she didn't even bother turning to look before speaking, "You're back early."

Silence lapsed the room and Syeira raised an eyebrow, as she got no reply. Craning her neck back to see who'd walked in, her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as a guy her age, looking at her through darkly rimmed glasses smirked, "Expecting someone else?"

She offered an apologetic smile, "Sorry."

"It's okay,"

An awkward silence stretched between them and Syeira slowly went back to unloading her laundry as he began to take back his.

Shit.

He was cute.

Which meant she felt unworthy of his presence, which consequently meant that the part of her brain that managed her social communication would momentarily, shut down. Shutting the lid of the machine, she set on the timer on thirty minutes, and bit her bottom lip. Now what?

Oh, right. She had school.

Swinging her bag over her shoulder, she was almost out of the Laundromat when he spoke up, "Hey, you go to Aseldale high school, don't you?"

She froze in front of the door, "Why?"

For a moment, she swore she saw embarrassment etch across his delicate, pretty, perfectly symmetrical features but it was gone as soon as it had come. "Oh, I was just wondering."

She already felt awful for having immediately jumped to the defensive. Swallowing spit to calm her suddenly scorched throat, she tried to redeem herself. "Well. I do go there."

But it seemed the damage was done. He nodded quickly and fiddled with his laundry detergent. "Uh. Me too."

She spoke attentively, "I guess I'll see you there, then?"

As she turned the handle, he jerked forward, "I'm in your bio class."

"You are?"

He smiled nervously, "Yeah. I sit at the front so I guess you haven't seen me."

Syeira felt her heart jump as he blushed. As he kept fastening and unfastening the Cold Water Tide, she had the sudden urge to just press herself against that obviously flat, layered with a white shirt and a red and pink-checkered blouse piece of warmth that had anatomically been named the chest. Instead, she stammered in search of something to say.

"Oh."

Fuck.

She felt like disappearing into thin air. That's what she came up with? When the first male who was actually cute (in the I'm going to go Harvard and still go to the gym every day sense) talked to her – all she could muster up was a pathetic OH?

He seemed to feel the awkwardness, "Well, bye then."

She grinned. "Bye." Flipping her head away from him, she raced out of the door and didn't slow down until she was a block away.

Leave it up to her to make even the simplest conversations awkward.

x.x

"Tell me what you got me for my birthday."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll bite you."

"Mm. And how is that a threat?"

Melanie giggled and wrapped her arms around Jason from behind who had set himself in front of his "Chemistry 11" study book.

"I'll bite you hard."

He smirked and craned his neck back to look at her. "Oh, will you?"

Giggling, she kissed his nose and then left a peck on his lips, "Okay, fine. Don't tell me. But you have to do whatever I say tonight then."

His face fell, "I can't come. I have to study for my test next period."

She withdrew her arms and crossed them across her chest, "This is the second time you've cancelled in a week."

"I know, but if I don't pass with flying colors, I wont be the captain of the football team." Jason ended his prize-winning line and watched as Melanie soaked it in.

"You wont?"

He sighed, knowing she was waiting for the football season to start, just so she could gloat about his status. As much as it flattered him, it annoyed him too. "Exactly."

She stepped back, "Alright, whatever. I'm going back to class."

He watched as she stomped out of the library, obviously pissed. Putting her to the back of his mind, he looked back at his Chem. Book, all of the letters looking like foreign numbers to him.

He frowned and flipped the page.

It was hard enough dealing with a mother going through menopause at home, but staying up all night cramming biology formulas into his head only to come to school to realize he had a chemistry test after lunch he hadn't even prepared for sucked balls.

He flinched. Ugh. He hated saying that.

"Sucked balls." He said it to himself again, just out of curiosity.

"Is what you do in your spare time?"

He looked up to see Syeira dropping her school bag on his table. Ignoring her comment, he watched her push back the chair on the other side of the table, and pull it back so she could sit on it. After doing so, she unzipped her bag and began to take her books out.

He looked at her innocently, "What're you doing?"

"I'm about to launch a shuttle into space."

He rolled his eyes, "Do you ever talk without sarcasm?"

"Not with you, no."

"Seriously, though, what're you doing?"

She stopped shuffling through her bag and looked at him blankly, "Don't you want your cell phone back?"

It clicked, "Right," Grinning, he caught it as she slid it across the table, "Thanks."

Without a word, she began to pack her bag again. Subduing himself into silence, he watched as she stuffed her last book into the front pocket, all the meanwhile avoiding his eyes.

Just for the hell of it, he tried to strike up a conversation "Did you watch Family Guy on TBS last night?"

She crunched her forehead as she zipped up her bag, "The episode where Stewie gets drunk?"

Surprised she hadn't zoomed off yet, he leaned forward "Yeah, and with Brian, they get into a car crash."

She smiled slightly, "Naw, the best part's when Stewie tells Brian he's special."

He chuckled, "And then vomits."

She broke into a full smile. "Yeah," She looked up at him for a mere moment and just as soon as her good mood had come, it disappeared. "Wait, why am I talking to you?" With her smile gone, she turned around and left.

Jason ignored the snickers from the students behind him who had obviously heard the conversation and shook his head to himself. Okay. Lesson learned; talking to her was pointless.

Leaning over his book again, he flipped it back to the previous page, and returned to simply staring at the formulas.

However, the little white envelope in his pencil case caught his attention.

Ugh.

Closing his textbook, he pocketed the envelope. Why not just slip the envelope in her locker now?

x.x

"Skip gym with me."

"Why?"

"Because I feel an uncontrollable desire for McDonalds."

Syeira fished her pockets to see if she had any spare change, and came out with two dollars. "You want to skip gym to binge on fast food?"

"We're playing badminton, Syeira." Her voice became dangerously monotone, "Oh, the workout."

Syeira grinned, "I can't though. If my mom gets the phone call, she'll be furious. My parents have been super paranoid since yesterdays accident."

"You mean incident?"

"Whatever."

"What happened anyway?"

"My mom thinks I'm rebelling against her because we moved, so she's grounded me."

Cassy halted in front of Syeira's locker, "Wait, what? You're grounded?"

Turning the combo for the lock, she sighed, "Yup."

"It's my birthday this weekend. You can't miss out on that." Cassy stared her earnestly, her eyes locking with hers, "Syeira."

Her shoulders dropped, "What can I do?" as she looked at her, it dawned on her and she groaned, "No, wait, Cassy, I can't."

"Not even for me?"

"I can't sneak out."

"You have to."

"You're such a bad influence on me."

"Syeira, you can't leave me hanging."

"But -."

"I came with you to steal Jason's cell phone back."

Syeira bit her lip, "Go away, you're forcing me into peer pressure."

"Syeira!"

"Fine. I'll think about it."

Cassy leaned on the locker beside Syeira's, "That's a yes."

"No, it's a 'I'll think about it'."

"Thanks."

"You better be." Syeira said as she pulled open her locker, searching around the books for the white envelope. Cassy spotted it first however, and leaned down on the floor to pick it up, "Here you go."

Feeling the usual nervousness, she took a deep breath and ripped it open. And just like she had done last time, she gave it to Cassy to read.

Her friend's eyes skirted across the little message and almost immediately, Cassy's left eyebrow shot up. "What the hell?"

Syeira could feel the walls closing in on her, "Is it horrible?"

"It's sexual."

Syeira's eyes widened, "Oh, god no." Holding her head, she shook it, "No, no, no." Sliding down to the floor against the lockers, she buried her head in her arms, "No, no, no, no, no, no-."

"Try out for the football team."

Syeira's cries immediately silenced and looking up at her friend, she glared at Cassy, "How in the world is that sexual?"

Cassy shrugged, "Well, you have to tackle some guys."

Syeira groaned, and breathed out a sigh of relief at the same time, "Thanks for giving me a fucking heart attack."

"Anytime, kid." Giving the envelope to Syeira, she sat down beside her, "But seriously, there'll be a lot of feeling each other on the field."

"Jason's insane. This is random. He only wants me to try out for the team because I'll embarrass myself." She crumpled up the paper and threw it a few feet away. "I hate my life."

"Don't exaggerate. It's not that bad. Show him your football skills."

"I have no football skills."

"Well then, show him your… uh…"

Syeira shook her head, "See, you have nothing to say. I'm going to completely make a fool out of myself and that's exactly what he wants."

Cassy nudged her, "Hey, you don't have to actually work for it. You can just kind of stand in the back."

As the idea soaked in, Syeira nodded, "I guess so…" Frowning, she looked at the ceiling, "When are the football tryouts anyway?"

"After tomorrow I think?"

x.x

As Syeira walked into the Laundromat, she staggered a little as the place was a hell lot busier than it was in the morning. The machine she had been using was being used and so was every other washer.

Panicking, she looked around for her laundry basket and let relief calm her as she saw it respectfully rested on the table. As she went to get it, she looked around to see if the guy who'd been here in the morning was here.

Unfortunately for her, he wasn't.

"Oh well," she sighed to herself. Pouting a little, she picked up her laundry basket and walked out of the Laundromat and slowly began to pace herself home.

The sun was still up, which cheered her up. As she looked around her neighborhood, she sighed wistfully as she saw some seven year olds jumping to a skipping rope. Honestly, those were the days if you had a problem, all you needed was a kiss from mom and everything would turn out okay.

When had her relationship with her mother turned so sour? She didn't even recognize the woman anymore.

"Hey!"

Snapping out of her gaze, she turned to her side to see the same guy from the morning crossing the pedestrian. Smiling, she felt a little adrenaline kick in as he grinned at her. This time, she wouldn't embarrass herself.

"Hi," She felt her heart do another wild thump as he gave her a lopsided grin. "So, bio was a drag today, eh?"

"I think I saw you doze off."

Syeira grimaced. She'd dozed off? "Oh, well. I didn't have lots of sleep last night."

"Aw. That's a shame." He seemed genuinely concerned, "Do you want me to carry your laundry?"

Syeira's mouth almost dropped open at his kindness. Did people like this actually exist? "No, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Hey, I don't even know your name."

"I'm Benjamin." He held out his hand for her to shake but withdrew it as he realized both her hands were burdened by the basket. "And yours?"

"Syeira."

"That's a pretty name,"

She blushed, "Thanks."

They stood there for a moment, just staring at each other and only broke out of it when a loud horn honked as a car drove by.

"Well," he put his hands in his pocket, "I've gotta pick up my laundry."

"Right, I should be getting home too."

And simultaneously, they said, "Bye!"

Turning around, Syeira forced her heart to calm down. The way it was hammering against her ribcage, if it weren't for the circumstances she would've thought it to be abnormal.

x.x

Rolling around on her rolley chair, Syeira hadn't felt this ecstatic in weeks. She had a friend (Cassy), and now she even had prospects of a boyfriend. Sure, it sounded pathetic but whatever light she could find in her life was good enough for her.

Bringing her chair to a stop, she rolled towards her desktop computer and signed onto MSN. Instantly, one of her older friends messaged her.

Love.Me.LL: You never talk to me anymore.

X.x. Syeira x.X: Huhh? Diane, it's been two days since I last talked to you :P

Love.Me.LL: I was joking. Guess what?

X.x Syeira x.X: Errr. What?

Love.Me.LL: Josh kissed me at Bridget's party.

X.x Syeira x.X: Bridget had another party? Did you kiss him back?

Love.Me.LL: Yes and yes.

X.x Syeira x.X: Um. Ok. Congratulations.

Love.Me.LL: Thanks. Just wondering but did you ever kiss him?

Syeira blinked blankly at the computer screen. Was this girl for real?

X.x Syeira x.X: Uhh no. I told you this before. We never had a 'moment'.

Love.Me.LL: Ohhh yeah. Sorry, I forget easily. Haha, a moment. Funny stuff.

Closing the conversation without saying goodbye, Syeira scrolled down her list for someone else to talk to. How had she ever called this girl her best friend?

Jason's conversation box popped open, and a message from him was blinking on the screen. She sighed. Well, he was better than no one.

J-Son: You weren't wearing your gym uniform in gym today. Tsk. Bad girl.

X.x. Syeira x.X: Holy shit. Who are you? A stalker?

J-Son: If you actually paid attention, you'd have realized by now that my gym class plays on the field next to yours. You can see me just as easily as I can see you.

X.x. Syeira x.X: Oh. Whatever.

J-Son: Well, ready for your truth?

X.x. Syeira x.X: Mhm.

J-Son: This one's from Derek.

J-Son: Do you find him physically attractive?

X.x. Syeira x.X: AHAHHAHA.

J-Son: He asked it.

J-Son: Not me.

J-Son: Answer.

X.x. Syeira x.X: Ummmmmm……

Syeira rested her hands just centimeters above the keyboard in wonder of what to say. As it came it to her, her lips curled in a smirk.

X.x. Syeira x.X: More attractive than you, yes.

It took him a good minute to reply.

J-Son: Eh. Your taste, I guess.

Surprised he hadn't retorted in a full blown egotistical attack, Syeira read in awe as he changed the changed the subject almost immediately. So, Jason wasn't as confident as he showed himself to be? She felt like cackling at her discovery. She didn't though – because it would've been weird.

J-Son: I'll see you at football tryouts then ;-)

X.x. Syeira x.X: Turd, why are you making try out for it?

J-Son: It'll give me a reason to tackle you, babe.

X.x. Syeira x.X: Ohhh. Haha, don't even try, Jason. I will make you cry.

J-Son: Yeah. Ok.

X.x. Syeira x.X: I'm not joking.

J-Son: K :-)

X.x. Syeira x.X: Jason, just because your sex deprived girlfriend is afraid of standing up to you, it doesn't mean I am.

J-Son: Wtf. She's not sex deprived.

X.x. Syeira x.X: Have you ever paid attention to the way she gropes you twenty four seven?

J-Son: She wants it. You care, why?

X.x. Syeira x.X: It's annoying. Ugh. Whatever. You always manage to piss me off.

X.x. Syeira x.X: I'm going to bed.

X.x. Syeira x.X: Ttyl

X.x. Syeira x.X logged off at 9:02 pm.

x.x

Okay! As I write this final note, I'm an hour and 16 minutes after my deadline. I'm sorry. :P

I introduced a new character, Benjamin. A shy fellow.

Muahaha. So I finally know where this entire story is going; and I'm pretty inspired.

It'll take a while, but Jason's character needs time to build. He's just one of those kind of guys. I hope you like him so far. Or hate him in a 'oh, he's cool but I hate him' way. Or if you have some other emotions swirling within thou, comment and tell me?

Thanks to Reeno, StormShadow21, kannecat, Paperth1n, SolisLuna, and SakuraChai, Omaterluna, Kelly and Allison Smith for reviews.

So until the next update!!!!

P.S: Review? Pretty please?